Even If Saving You Sends Me to Heaven
by DanceKristiDance
Summary: Kella's a crude, vulgar girl who would do anything to escape the tortures of her Catholic school. When she's made to escort a new student around the school, despite an odd boy's growing protests, she's oddly attracted to him. But why can he read her mind?
1. Almost

**Author's Note: Well, I'm sorry you stumbled into this fanfiction, because it's nothing special. Still, I wanted to get back into writing, and a vampire story seemed to be the perfect way to do it. You won't see a lot of action in this first chapter, but I assure you, it'll get better.**

**ONE WARNING: At one point in the chapter, it may seem something... rated M is going to happen, but don't worry about it. Just keep reading.**

**Please read and review!**

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Chapter One

Almost

Kella Simms' head bobbed absently to the music flooding her ears. Sister Deirdre was speaking to the class, something about Pascal's Triangle, but none of it was getting through to Kella. She barely made the time to look at her Advanced Algebra teacher with how her eyes kept drifting to that little digital clock on top of the school's television, which glowed sadistically at her. She still had _two hours_ before school was let out.

_At least it's gorgeous outside._ The windows of St. Kiara Catholic High School were small, but this one was just large enough to see the crabapple and cherry trees in full blossom, ones that, no doubt, her mother had helped plant when she was a kid. Sister Deirdre had hinted at it a few times, but Kella had never really been listening.

"Numbers... add up... expand... until line seven." Sister Deirdre continued her boring little lecture. Meaningless, considering Kella had no ambition to succeed in school. She already had her life planned out- find a husband with a master's degree in law and she was all set. Kella wrinkled her nose. As long as he wasn't one of those lawyers that had to chase ambulances to make money. That was just pathetic.

"Listening... earphones? Kella!"

Kella's violet eyes widened, but only with the slightest hint of shock. They drifted back to Sister Deirdre, who was frowning across the classroom. With one swift tug, Kella pulled the earbuds out. So much for Armchair Cynics during Advanced Algebra. If Father Markson knew half of the shit Kella listened to during class, he would probably try to exorcise her.

"Bless it," muttered Sister Deirdre, "do you ever pay attention, Kella?"

"You almost swore," Kella mentioned lazily, raising a pale brown eyebrow competitively.

Sister Deirdre's scowl only grew, and she marched across the classroom with her hands on her hips. "Just because I'm your aunt doesn't give you the right to mouth off to me in class, you little brat. You're lucky I don't send you to Father Markson right now."

As Deirdre's scowl took up more mass on the earth, so did Kella's smile. "You're a terrible nun, you know that?"

And Deirdre's features relaxed, exposing to the world the contour of her cheeks, marred by laugh lines and frown lines. It amazed Kella how different those two could be from each other, and how similar at the same time. Deirdre sighed and turned around. "I know," she admitted, "but I couldn't get a boyfriend, so what other option is there?"

Some of Kella's classmates snickered. Having a huge family, many of the nuns at the school were related to Kella. It was just how her family _worked_; if you couldn't get a husband, you became a nun. At least, that was how it worked on her mother's side. On her father's side, if you couldn't get a wife, you bought a house in Virginia, a shotgun and a six pack of beer and called it a day. Maybe it was her uncles and aunts on her father's side that caused Kella's mother to send her to Catholic school. She was well on her way to the beer, anyway. Once she got money from her grandma, money she assured her that she would be using on books.

Kella scoffed. Yeah, right.

"There's always prostitution," a boy called out, one from near the front of the class. This one was yet another of the students that had a tendency to speak out of terms. His light hair was a massive contrast to his tanned skin, and Kella could see the small indent in his lip where he must have taken a piercing out every day in order to show up for school.

_Plus he's got a nice ass,_ Kella's mind wandered momentarily.

The entire class laughed again, and once more, Sister Deirdre's face became a map of hell with all of its wrinkles. For a sixty-one year old woman, she sure let herself go once she married God. Suddenly, Kella felt very sorry for God. _He must have a lot of women like that,_ she thought to herself, and began to thumb through all of the nuns at that school in her mind.

"Porter Wood! To Father Markson, now!" Sister Deirdre screamed. Slowly, the boy, Porter, turned to Kella and smiled. He nodded and stood up, moving to the back of the room where the door was.

On his way out, Kella could feel the brush of fingers on her shoulder, and she smiled lightly to herself. Kella had received this invitation before, from many different guys. It was the same gesture used by everyone at that school, just subtle enough that the nuns didn't notice. One boy, however, who did notice, wolf-whistled. Sister Deirdre seemed to have returned her attention to Pascal's Triangle on the board.

Once Porter had left, Kella raised her hand.

Sister Deirdre, like she had some kind of a radar for these things, flipped around. "Yes, Kella?"

"May I use the washroom," she asked as politely as possible, flashing her aunt a big, toothy grin. Sister Deirdre sighed as she put her hand on her habit. At St. Kiara Catholic High, it was required to let a student use the washroom during at least one period of the day, but how would the nuns even know that they had ditched that way before? They wouldn't, so everyone left whenever he or she wanted to.

Finally, Sister Deirdre gave in, closing her eyes and waving Kella off. Kella smiled once more and, gracefully as she could, left the classroom. She knew all eyes were on her, and she was used to it; it wasn't very often at St. Kiara that you got a girl that would defy every single rule possible in _hopes_ of expulsion.

She was almost hoping that someone would find her and Porter. _Almost_.

The hallway was dead, save for one blond head, leaning against the dirt colored lockers of the school. His brown eyes flickered over to her, some twelve feet away, and he pushed himself off of the lockers. Right across from their classroom was their destination: the men's washroom.

Kella stood where she was for a moment more, watching the uncovered camera of the school with her peripherals. As it moved away from her area, she walked steadily into the bathroom as to not cause any alarm. There was the click of the lock on the bathroom door, and the lights were all off. Kella's eyes had to take a few moments to adjust to the darkness, but she wasn't given quite the right amount of time.

In seconds, two hands were on her respective arms, pushing her back harshly against the tile wall. Porter's mouth was on her own, kissing her like he was suffocating and she was oxygen. Kella stifled a small moan- he was good, but there was one thing that she had learned about the boys of St. Kiara:

Don't ever let them think that they're giving you what you want.

But of course, she kissed him back. Though they could take their time, they didn't. There was still almost an hour left of Advanced Algebra. Sometimes, Kella hated the block schedule, other times, like today, it worked to her advantage.

Porter's hands traveled from her arms down to her wrists, and with his touch bringing a trail of fire. It wasn't like she didn't do this before- she _did_- but never with him. _He's good,_ Kella thought, braindead from pleasure. His hands left her for a moment to stumble as he pulled off his tie, and his shirt along with it. While Kella got as far as loosening her own tie, she was disturbed as he gripped her wrists and held them high above her head, his kisses trailing down to her neck now.

He seemed to be completely and utterly focused on her, as well, like she was the last girl he would ever screw. They almost didn't react when the door to the bathroom opened.

_Almost_.

"My Lord!" Sister Barbara's voice shrieked. That woman could be heard over a train horn. At first, Kella wasn't worried, but it was hard to ignore that Father Markson was standing right next to her, an extremely worried expression on his face.

"Put your shirt on, boy," he growled to Porter. His attention was then brought back to Kella. The butterflies in her stomach were more like fireworks now, crashing and exploding. This was the third time she had been caught that month. "Kella Simms. I can't say I'm surprised. Come with me, we have a lot to talk about." He glanced sharply at Sister Barbara. "Deal with him once he's dressed."

Father Markson moved forward, out of the bathroom, without even waiting for Kella. Kella smoothed down her light brown hair awkwardly as she followed him out. A few other students that were in the hallway stared at her, at her still ruffled hair, her loose tie and her untucked shirt. Some smiled wryly. It was no matter- Kella wore them as badges of honor.

"I don't suppose I have to ask you what you and Mr. Wood were doing in there," he asked.

Kella shrugged. "I could ask why Sister Barbara was on her way to the men's bathroom with you, but-"

And just like that, Father Markson flipped around. "We heard a thump and other _noises_ in there during a meeting, and we thought someone had gotten hurt. Although, both of us should have known better, with your record." He turned back around and continued through the hallway. Lingering students moved out of the way. Father Markson had a way of parting a crowd like the red sea. Without looking back at her and just lowly enough that she could hear, he said, "Next time, you may want to try a different bathroom."

And Kella scoffed.

The secretaries bade them both "hello" upon their arrival. She was already on a first name basis with Claudia and Dianne that she didn't even have to sign in anymore. "Will one of you retrieve Kella's things from her classroom? You know where it is," said Father Markson to the two of them.

Father Markson's office was directly across from them, and Kella sat down in the seat opposite his desk that she so affectionately called her own. "That's the third time this month, Kella," he said lowly and bitterly, "I'm just surprised you keep this up. You have so many relations in this school. Half of your family _works_ in this school. How disappointed would your mother be if she knew everything that happens with you here?"

Kella couldn't hold back a laugh. "_You_ don't know everything that happens with me here! The boys are just the beg-" Once Father Markson's eyes reduced into slits and his hands into fists, Kella pursed her lips shut, but opened them almost immediately after. "I know, I know," she sighed, "cleanliness is next to Godliness, spare the rod, spoil the child, all that fun stuff. I'll take my two days of detention and forge my mom's signature for you again, and-"

"No, not this time," said Father Markson, "you're not getting away with it this time. I'll have you learn some morals by the end of your junior year, so help me, Kella. It's one thing to defile yourself before holy matrimony, but in a Catholic school? What were you thinking?"

Kella shrugged. "My brother had gay sex at Jesus camp."

Father Markson put his fingers on his temples and began to rub calmingly. _Maybe he thinks that will stimulate hair growth,_ Kella thought vaguely to herself. _Shine a light on that shit and you'll blind the entire school._

At that moment, the tension was broken by Claudia awkwardly walking in with Kella's backpack and placing it next to her chair.

"Your brother's already graduated," he said patiently, "and he's not the subject of this conversation. Your family's affairs shouldn't effect your own behavior if you want to be a good, moral Christian. You do believe in the almighty God, don't you?"

Kella sighed. "Yeah, I do," she said, putting her arms behind her head and leaning back in the chair, "I know I do. Jesus, too, don't worry. I just don't agree with the idea that God doesn't want us to live our lives. I mean, think about it. Adam and Eve must have been fucking up a storm, and there was no such thing as marriage back then. And what about rabbits? Look at them!"

"There are conflicting views," Father Markson said too loudly and too abruptly. Kella could hear frantic whispering from Claudia and Dianne. She was once forced to work in the secretary's office for a month, which got her to know them, and like them- over half the time, Kella didn't show up, and every single time, Claudia and Dianne filled out her work papers for her to state that she _had_ shown up to fulfill her punishment. "The point is, we do not allow this kind of vagrancy in our school. I'm pretty sure no high school allows that on campus, Kella. And I'm tired of you taking advantage of your poor quality cameras."

"Shit yes," Kella sighed, "you'd think that with all the money our parents have to pay to send us here, you'd be able to get some quality equipment, like better cameras or computers." She frowned. "Or you could at least paint this place a different color. It looks like fucking Hogwarts up in this bi-"

"Watch your language, Ms. Simms!" Father Markson slammed his fists on his desk, and finally, Kella shut her mouth. "I'm prepared to contact your parents and have you expelled. But I'm nicer than that." He sat down, breathing heavily. "You see, we have a transfer student. He's waiting in the secretary's office. His name is Topher Orson. He recently converted to Catholicism and decided to join us here at St. Kiara's. As part of the program here, he needs to have a student of his own grade level to show him around and help him out for a month. You're going to do it."

Kella, as per usual, spoke up and lashed out. "Hey, don't I get a say in this?"

Father Markson nodded. "Of course. You get to say 'yes', because at this point, it's either help Topher or be expelled. Which do you think your parents would understand more?" he paused, "'Mom, I had sex with a boy in Catholic school, so I'm expelled', or, 'Mom, there's a new boy at school that I offered to show around for a month'?"

"Well, if you're talking about which one she'd expect more, then it's the first. But understand? Yes, the second." As much as she hated and feared Father Markson, she had to appreciate his ability to be straight-up with her. Kella refused to let her violet eyes meet his dark ones as she re-adjusted her tie. It was better to walk out of a bathroom with a shirtless boy with make-out hair and clothes than to walk out of the priest's office looking like you've been beaten. Nobody was often beaten at St. Kiara.

Of course, those nuns did get a little testy.

"Kella, I'd like you to take the rest of the day off. You can walk home, right? It's nice out. Please, go home and clear your mind and think of what you've done. Pray a little bit." Kella stood up without needing further pushing as he wrote her a pass out of the school. "Kella, your morals may conflict with ours, but if it makes you feel any better, I _don't_ think you're going to hell."

"What a relief," Kella said boredly and practically snatched the pass away from him. She was lucky to not have to go to Chemistry next period, but she'd have to chauffeur some convert around school for the next month? Part of her would rather take the expulsion. Her mother and father, however, had already made generous endowments to St. Kiara, so that simply wasn't an option. She walked slowly and carefully out of the office.

And, just then, Kella noticed a figure sitting in one of the chairs of the secretary's office, one that she hadn't noticed on her way in. He had impossibly dark hair, mussed like it was naturally that way, and eyes the color of oak wood that surveyed her, amused, as she walked out. He wasn't wearing the St. Kiara uniform, but rather a simple fitted black t-shirt and baggy blue jeans. While Kella managed to rip her gaze away from the boy that she suspected to be Topher Orson, he kept his eyes on her until she was out of the office.

The moment that Kella arrived outside of the room into the Hogwarts-like dimly lit hallways, a word rang in her mind. It wasn't quite out of her memory and she didn't recognize whose voice it was, but it seemed natural, like the voice belonged there. It said, "Tomorrow".

"I do need sleep," Kella muttered to herself, and practically ran through the hallways, which were empty now, or at least they seemed to be. When the security guard in front of the doors asked her for a pass, Kella simply dropped it and sped out of the building, into the warm, fresh air, a fantastic contrast to St. Kiara. She knew exactly where she wanted to go.

In her neighborhood in Missouri, crabapple trees and cherry trees were planted everywhere because of how beautifully they blossomed in the spring. Kella had been around them so much that she could tell the difference between both of them, though they were all beautiful. There was one cherry tree, however, that stood out amongst all of them as the largest, most full of life tree she had ever seen, and it was located in the field behind her house, the one that nobody ever went to anymore. Kella, however, seldom passed a day without visiting.

Her house was close, and so was the field behind it. Kella let out a sigh of relief when her feet slowed down and she arrived at the cherry tree. It was swaying gently in the wind, sending pink blossoms everywhere, like something out of the manga that she so often used to read when she was younger. It was there, in all of its glory, but there was something horribly _wrong_.

Sitting at the base of the tree was a boy... no, a _teenager_, with snow white hair, staring straight at her.

He could have been mistaken for an albino because of the pigments of his hair, but his eyes were a light gray and he had an obvious tan to him. His lips were rosy colored and his face almost looked like a child's, but a child's that had seen too much. He didn't seem half as surprised to see Kella at that tree as she did to see him there.

Kella had been standing there for a good minute before she finally spoke, "Hello," she said guardedly.

The boy didn't speak, however- he just nodded down once. Kella frowned; wasn't that some kind of a gangster greeting? Didn't nodding down mean that you're recognizing the other gangster as superior? Or was it inferior? Kella had no idea, but this boy didn't look like he belonged in the ghetto at all, anyway. "Who are you?" she finally said.

"Vessa," he spoke. His voice was indescribable. He seemed to speak not just from his mouth, but from the rustling of the leaves and the whistling of the wind through them. He sounded like he wasn't just sitting with the tree, but he was part of it, like he had always been part of it.

_No,_ Kella thought, _I'm just tired. Long day._

Kella didn't stick around to talk to the boy. She turned on her heel instead and darted away from it, running back to her house. She pushed open the fence and ran inside. The day had just been too _weird_; that Topher boy that was staring at her, and now some Snow White leaning against the tree, _her_ tree? Kella threw her backpack on the kitchen table. Her mother wouldn't be home for another three hours. She could raid the fridge, she could hook her wii up to the big screen television, or she could call someone and have some_ fun_ right in the middle of the living room. Instead, she just rushed up to her room on the second story, and immediately to the window that overlooked her tree.

He was gone.

Kella scoffed, and shut her purple curtains over the window. "Of course."

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**Author's Note: Sorry the beginning's kind of slow, but I wanted you to get an up-close and... extremely personal... look at Kella and her personality before we get into the deep stuff. Yes, you've already met the vampire, we just don't know anything about him yet. ;D Don't worry, there'll be plenty of him in the next story, and Vessa, as well. Please review!**


	2. Panacea and Poison

**Author's Note: Here it is, chapter two! Sorry it took a few hours longer than I expected (though, how would you know when I expected it to be done?) but here it is. From now on, there will be a quote, whether a random one or from a song, at the beginning of each chapter. If it's a song, I highly recommend listening to it as you read. This one is not.**

**Anyway, please read, review, and enjoy!**

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Chapter Two

Panacea and Poison

"_If you were my husband, I'd poison your coffee."_  
"_If you were my wife, I'd drink it."_

-Lady Nancy Astor and Winston Churchill

Kella woke moments before her alarm went off, breathing too heavily. As she kicked her quilts off of her, she felt the thin layer of sweat that had formed, which couldn't have come from the temperature of her room. It was always cold in there, after all.

As she pushed herself up and rubbed her eyes violently with her knuckles, it all came back to her. After she had returned home, after seeing the boy she would be escorting named Topher and the boy at the tree named Vessa (or had she imagined that he told her his name?), the rest of the night passed by too quickly.

She had dreams of a butterfly. It was gorgeous, with brown and lilac wings, fluttering around what looked like pink clouds. No, they weren't pink clouds. There was some contour to them, something that Kella couldn't pick out immediately. The dream was too much of a blur. Still, the dream was beautiful, though cut short.

"Too beautiful," Kella mumbled to herself. A thick coat of phlegm lined her throat, reminding her of why she had gotten up early in the first place. Kella bolted out of bed and to the bathroom attached to her room, flicked the straightener's switch on and pulled out her newly washed school uniform. The entire process took a good hour, though she was constantly distracted with her eyes drifting toward the cherry tree in the field behind her house.

_Five centimeters per second,_ Kella thought lazily. She forgot where she had heard it, but somewhere, from a movie or something, she had heard that cherry blossom petals fall at five centimeters per second, sort of like her life now. _All according to plan._

Watch as she may, Vessa had never returned to the tree. Finally, an hour before school was supposed to start, Kella headed downstairs. Her mother was standing over the stove, cooking something Kella didn't recognize, and smiling as she did so. A feminist's nightmare. Her golden hair was pinned up in a messy bun atop her head, and her gray-blue eyes were squinting happily upon noticing Kella.

"You're up early," Dawn said to her daughter. "Going in for help?"

Kella nodded abruptly. "Sure." She didn't have a good lie set up yet, but Dawn's assumptions would cut it for today. "I've got to head out early. Can I skip breakfast this morning?" Elya, their black rabbit that they let roam freely throughout the house per Kella's brother, Denny's request, hopped over to her and sniffed her foot. She rolled her eyes; damn Elya didn't even realize that he wasn't a canine. _Stupid like everyone else in this household_.

Dawn didn't even frown. "Sure thing, honey. Try to bring that Advanced Algebra grade up."

Kella smirked, remembering Advanced Algebra, the brush of Porter's fingers, the bathroom, body pressed against body...

And didn't Sister Deirdre say something about Pascal's square or something?

"Sure thing. 'Bye mom."

Kella flung her backpack over her back, which was still on the kitchen table from the day before when she had rushed like a madwoman away from Vessa, and stepped outside. Though still expected, no Vessa sat against the tree.

"Maybe I imagined him altogether."

"Imagined who?" came a voice. Thankfully, this was one she knew. Kella breathed a sigh of relief as her childhood friend, Blair walked up to her, nonchalantly and smiling. "I thought you stopped talking to yourself a long time ago."

Kella smiled at her. "Some things never change. Speaking of, we all still going behind the school?"

But Blair shook her head. "No. They caught us last time, remember? The 7-11 is like, a half block away. We're just going there. Behind it, of course." Blair then wrinkled her pale nose; her brother worked at that 7-11 part-time, and she wasn't quite sure of his hours. Adam didn't usually care when he saw his sister and her friends drinking or doing weed, but if he was angry enough at Blair, he would spill it all to their overprotective father, and Blair knew it.

Kella, however, was just too good to get caught.

"Well, hell, let's hurry," sighed Kella. St. Kiara's was in plain sight now, so the 7-11 would be down the street, just about a minute away. "And if I space out during English today, get me out of it or something. I can't space like I did yesterday in double A. I'm failing English, too."

Blair clucked her tongue a few times, the metal of her tongue piercing knocking against her teeth. "So the Simms mother finally gets up your ass. Look, she probably won't even notice that your grade hasn't changed once reports come out. But if it makes you feel any better, math comes naturally to me. English, too. I'll let you cheat on our test today."

Kella could have choked. "Test? We have a _test_ today?" She shook her head so much that her perfectly straightened, light brown hair flew about her. "No. I can't be high during a test." Her hands didn't exactly tremble at the fault, but the last time she was "off" during one of her tests, not only did she fail, but she had to run out of the classroom so she wasn't caught.

"Don't worry," Blair said. "There's a new guy at the scene today. I met with him yesterday, told him that you and I were going _and_ that we've got a test today. He's got some shit that'll fuck you up _and_ help you focus. It's amazing. Never even heard of it, either. He said it's his new mix."

"Who is he?" Kella asked as they rounded the bright 7-11. A group of boys with a couple of girls mixed in were in view immediately upon turning. Kella was so used to seeing them behind the school, but at least the crowd hadn't changed.

"Him," said Blair, pointing forward with one cut-off gloved hand.

A lump formed in Kella's throat.

Topher.

He looked exactly the same as yesterday. The St. Kiara's men's uniform of tan pants, a white shirt and tie didn't make him look any more formal, not with his disheveled hair and speculative eyes, staring not through her, like everyone else at that school seemed to, but straight _at_ her, criticizing her for all that she was.

_What am I thinking? I don't even know the guy._ Keeping her stride as she had taught herself to do from before she could remember, Kella walked up to Topher. "Aren't you a new convert?" she asked. "So what's going on back here? Weed or alcohol? So soon after becoming Catholic?" While Kella tried to make herself intimidating, make the new boy respect her, it just didn't seem to work. He was only mildly taller than her; height wasn't the problem. It was those _eyes_, those oak brown eyes, that looked like they could have been warm, sometime years ago, but now were cold and distant.

"And you're preaching," he said in a voice low and husky, coming straight from his throat, not like the Vessa boy that she had imagined the day before, "when you're here in the same place as me, Kella Simms."

"How do you..." Kella paused as Blair patted her on the shoulder.

"I'll leave you two to it." With that, Blair headed over to a circle of the others and immediately began laughing with them.

Kella shook her head. "Father Markson must have told you my name."

"No," said Topher flatly, but nothing more. Kella knew this technique; boys used it to keep her wondering. Well, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. It was, after all, either that, or he was trying to freak her out. At least the latter had a chance of working.

"What's in the bottle?" Kella asked, purposely redirecting the conversation.

Topher didn't even glance down at the clear, red-tinted bottle, in which a liquid, showing black behind it, seemed to move on its own, lacking any viscosity at all. "A mix I made. It's-"

"It's supposed to make you drunk and keep you focused," Kella finished, trying to look uninterested, "Blair already told me."

To that, Topher raised an eyebrow. Kella couldn't help but to notice that he wasn't half-bad looking, but just because she noticed it didn't mean that it made any difference to her. He was still the source of her problems for the next month, or so she expected. "Then whey did you ask me about it?" he asked.

Kella sighed. "I'm just gonna get a joint. Meet me in front of the building when school starts. I don't want Father Markson to think-"

And as Kella turned away, she felt a hand on her arm. It wasn't harsh and demanding like many of the other boys at St. Kiara, but gentle and firm- surprisingly gentle and firm for someone who seemed so... unholy. "Drink this," he said, "and I guarantee you that you won't need any of your other alcohol or drugs ever again."

That kept Kiara interested. Still, like with any other dealer, she needed to go through the questions. "I don't know. I like my brandy and heroin. What's this mix, anyway?"

But Topher was smarter than that. "If I told you, you could recreate it at home."

"So I suppose that there's a price."

Topher smiled. "No. Consider it a token of friendship, once a week, every week, if you want." He shrugged. "There's so much of this mix lying around my house that I can afford to lose some every week."

_This probably should be concerning me,_ Kella thought, _but it's not._ She was tired and just wanted to get through the day. Her friends had stopped their weekly meetings for a while after they were caught behind the building, so getting back into the loop was the most important thing for her. Why not start it off with something new?

Kella nodded. "Alright. I'll try it."

And she held out a hand, expecting Topher to put the bottle in. Instead, he took a step closer to her, and pressed the mouth of the bottle to her own. Without even thinking, Kella opened her mouth, like a baby with a bottle. The liquid was brownish, she noticed, not black. It wasn't until after a few swallows that she realized what it tasted like.

The mix had a hint of coke in it. The drink, not cocaine. That was obviously just for flavor. There was some rum and... sake, maybe? There was a taste, however, she couldn't quite pinpoint, one with a zing that reminded her of the city. _This must be his secret ingredient,_ she thought lazily as the last swallow went down her throat.

"That's it?" she asked.

"That's all it takes," he responded.

Surely enough, that _was_ all it took.

In moments, Kella felt like her muscles were on fire. She could have rocketed ten feet in the air if it didn't defy the laws of physics. Although exhilarated, her vision didn't swim like it did when she was drunk. Instead, it seemed as though she was seeing everything in its true color for the first time, from the bright blues of the sky to the shining yellow of the sun, to the fissures of the dirt beneath her feet and the craters in the bricks of the 7-11. _Is this what he meant by making someone more focused?_ Kella didn't feel focused, however; she felt _reborn_.

"What's this _called_?" she asked, her eyes widening. "I mean, what do you call it?"

"Panacea," he said simply, though the smallest smile tugged at the corner of her lips. Kella could see it in his eyes, the satisfaction of what he had just done. But Kella, however, still felt the buzz of her drunkenness, but she didn't feel like she was acting on impulse anymore. _If a guy were to try and rape me,_ she thought as an example, _I'd know exactly what he was doing and be able to stop him._ The drink was empowering, and worked in so little time.

But the _name_ bugged her.

"Isn't a panacea a cure for everything?" she asked.

Topher then looked at the sky and breathed in deeply, "Yes," he said, "but that's not what it comes from. I named it after the Greek goddess of healing." This time, Topher's hands held a slight tremble to them as he lifted the bottle to his own lips, no doubt still wet from when he had put it to Kella, and drank some himself. _Well, at least it's not poison_, she thought with little humor. _I wonder if worshiping the Greek gods or whatever was his religion before this one._

"Not quite," said Topher lowly, looking Kella straight in the eyes now.

Kella stumbled, noticing for the first time how his hair seemed to reflect blue, purple and green all at the same time, though it was simply black under the fluorescent light. "Did I say that out loud?" she asked. It was amazing; her voice wasn't slurring. She was still in shock from the effects of this drink, this Panacea.

"No," he said again, and then looked at the rest of the group, which seemed to be shifting slightly. Before Kella had the chance to open her mouth, he said, "We should get to St. Kiara. You have a lot to show me before school starts."

Kella obeyed without hesitation, though she couldn't figure out for the life of her _why_.

* * *

Topher was quiet throughout the initial tour of the first of the three St. Kiara buildings. She couldn't suppress a smile when she passed by the men's bathroom across from her Advanced Algebra room, which, incidentally, he said he had with her. If this were the case, she would only see him every other day; block scheduling did that. But this wasn't the case- he also had fifth period free with her, and second period U.S. History with her on Day 2s. But this hardly bothered her, because as she walked, she could feel no ground beneath her and barely taste the air around her; everything was intensified to almost the point of Kella feeling as though she were shot with Novocain.

_Next week can't come much sooner,_ she thought happily as she directed him to the library.

And silently, they arrived at Topher's first classroom. "I have to get to English class," she said, "but after U.S. History, we'll go to lunch together." And then, she added silently, _because if Father Markson sees me without you during one of my free periods, he's going to expel me for sure._ At least for the first week, before Topher had any real friends at the school.

Then again, looking at the fact that he was hanging out with all of Kella's friends, all of the Future Drunk Drivers of America, he probably didn't need much help. But Kella couldn't risk it; she promised herself she would at least _graduate_ from high school.

Kella had to admit. She didn't like Topher very much. His words didn't register half the time, and when they did, they were just confusing. But this Panacea... how did he even mix it? He had to have some skill if he made something like _that_. And Kella couldn't help but feel mildly empty when she abandoned him to go to English class.

One could only imagine how much worse she felt when her English test had started.

"Sister Danica?" Kella shouted, without raising her hand as she sat down for the test.

Sister Danica nearly leaped out of her habit. She always acted like she was being watched or something. Multiple test papers flew around when she spun to meet Kella, who looked more than confused, at the back of the classroom. "Kella? What?" she asked quickly and worriedly.

Kella put up her hands in mock surrender. "I was just wondering if we could open the windows. It's hot in here." The class murmured in agreement. While Panacea had made her relatively numb, she still felt ultrasensitive to the temperature. _I suppose every drink has its downsides,_ mutely thought Kella. Sister Danica, who looked like she had almost been run over by a bus, nodded. _Thank God we're not related._

With two clicks, Kella had pulled open the window. Immediately, however, once she sat down, a wind blew in the classroom. Its whistling and moaning almost seemed to make _words_ to Kella, broken off and half unheard.

_Don't... bad... come... tree..._

Kella couldn't have looked jumpier than Sister Danica, but she felt it at that moment. That voice was so similar to Vessa's... but she had made him up, hadn't she? _It must be the Panacea,_ she thought to herself, and laughed it off. A few of her classmates were staring at her; very seldom did _anybody_ approach Sister Danica's level of strangeness in that classroom.

So Kella regained her cool and stared down at her tests. The words did not blur together or jumble in her mind, rather, they stood out as clear as a bell in front of her. Kella, however focused, could not get herself to ignore Vessa's words through the window, which seemed clearer the further she went on through the test, more distinct.

_Come to the tree!_ He called.

His shouting continued, but Kella couldn't bother to leave the school until her lunch hour. After U.S. History (in which Topher seemed unnervingly polite, never speaking out despite how outrageous and annoying Sister Martha was), when Topher and Kella left the room, Kella thought up ways to explain why they had to go to the tree, but she could come up with nothing more than a pathetic little excuse.

"I dropped my calculator over there yesterday when I was running home," she told him. People passed them by in the hallway, _all_ of them stopping for at least a moment to glance at Kella. She could practically feel their thoughts burning holes into her, thoughts about whether or not they've fucked yet or if they're related, like Kella was related to just about every nun in the school.

Topher looked at her speculatively again, but eventually, nodded. "I believe it," he said, "after all, you ran out of Father Markson's office so fast the other day, I thought maybe I had a disease." He laughed lightly to himself as Kella directed him towards the exit.

"Well-" Kella stopped herself and, in turn, stopped in the middle of the hallway. She hadn't actually been running when she was in Father Markson's office, but when she was _out_ of it, out of plain view. She tried to think... were there any windows in the office? No, there weren't. Again, Kella's mind became jumbled.

_It's the Panacea,_ she thought to herself, a reassurance. _The Panacea_.

In only minutes they had approached the beautifully blooming cherry tree. As Kella found herself- and Topher- trapped in a cloud of pink, she thought briefly about the dream she had had the night before. Yes... those were the pink clouds that the brown-and-lilac butterfly had been flying through. Cherry blossom petals. Five centimeters per second.

Even as they reached the distance of only a foot away from the tree, she saw no Vessa. "I guess... I just imagined it," she said dumbly to herself, but Topher just happened to hear, who was standing, looking critically at the tree, as if it weren't quite large enough, as if it weren't quite full of enough life. And there may have even been some jealousy in his facial expression, as well, but Kella would never be able to pick out the giveaway on that one.

"Your... calculator must have gone missing," he said lightly. After a moments silence, Topher spoke again, more loudly, more clearly. "Kella. I don't want you coming near this tree anymore. It's not safe."

"What do you-" Kella began immediately, but then stopped. Could Vessa really exist, or was Topher just being an ass like half of the other boys at St. Kiara? But why would he want her to stay away from a _tree_? It must have been something important. Though, Kella had been going to that tree since she was a little girl... what could be _dangerous_ about it?

Despite her growing protests, she could only feel the Panacea coursing through her veins, she could only hear Topher's words, and she could only see the clear, distinct lines of the cherry tree, and she could only sense its aura, which gave off an eerie calm that she wasn't sure she wanted to approach. Without thinking, she nodded.

"Okay."

* * *

**Author's Note: Well, once I _really_ introduced Topher, my story took a completely different turn, so the storyline is going to be edited a little bit, but don't worry, because Kella's growth is going to stay the same. And expect some love... complications as the story progresses. I'm sorry this was mildly slow, and I'm sorry for any incorrect grammar/spelling, etc. I'm so tired right now, and shouldn't be allowed to type anytime in the morning. Dx'**

**Please review!**


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